: Re: How do I know when to include subplots? Disclaimer: This is not a duplicate of this question. That question deals with subplots being necessary to a story's success, and also loosely how to

@Frith254

I'll tag along what @RobtA said above, regarding reversing the question and asking when you can get rid of subplots.

You described your writing process as very structured, so consider this formula for figuring out when and where to have subplots:


Write a rough draft of your story, focusing only on the main plot.
Read what you wrote. Do you feel it was complete? Did the characters get fleshed out enough? Did you add enough foreshadowing along the way for the plot and its twists to "make sense" to the reader? For the characters decisions in the main plot to "make sense"?
If the answer to part 2 is "no", then add subplots to fix the problem.
Repeat steps 2-3 till your done.


(Hope this is helpful, and not too "rigid"...)

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